


A Mug of Love

by WorryinglyInnocent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling, F/M, Fluff, Fluffapalooza, Rumbelle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 07:51:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17741891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorryinglyInnocent/pseuds/WorryinglyInnocent
Summary: Belle and Rumpel enjoy a romantic moment together whilst on their travels with a young Gideon.Written for Fluffapalooza 2019 and the @a-monthly-rumbelling prompt: Poetry, Rowboat, Handmade gifts, Rain, Cuddle





	A Mug of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Brimham Rocks is a National Trust site in Yorkshire and one of my favourite places in England. The place Belle and Rumpel are staying in is based on a place I stayed in (and loved) when I was a kid.
> 
> https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/brimham-rocks

“It’s a shame there’s no boats, really.”

Rumpel looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow on hearing this seemingly random sentence from Belle, and she smiled at him over the rim of her mug of tea.

They were sitting on the deck of the little wooden holiday chalet that they were renting in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, one each end of the swing-seat, their legs entwined. Every so often, Rumpel would untangle one of his feet from under the blanket and give the seat a gentle rock. It was a mild summer evening, and they were enjoying the last of the light.

Belle looked over at the small lake that the chalets backed onto. It was little more than a glorified pond really, but it was good to swim in and they’d had great fun splashing around in the shallows with Gideon earlier. Seeing Rumpel in his swimming trunks with a giggling Gideon in his arms had reminded Belle just how much she loved him. Not that she needed a reminder, but sometimes the feeling just hit her suddenly and overwhelmed her, like it had done this afternoon, with the sun shining in just the right way to make the water glisten like diamonds.

“Is there any reason for you lamenting the lack of boats?” Rumpel asked.

Belle nodded. “I was gazing out over the lake, and thinking about us here with our books, and I thought how romantic it would be to go out on the lake in a rowboat and read poetry to each other. Especially now, in the sunset, with the light on the water just so and the stars about to come out.”

“My love is like a red, red rose,” Rumpel quoted. Belle closed her eyes, listening to the rest of the verse. She always enjoyed listening to Rumpel read aloud, but there was something in his voice that especially leant itself to poetry, and Burns was one of her favourites. Rumpel had promised her that they would get to Scotland during their travels so that she could see his birthplace.

“We probably wouldn’t be able to read much poetry in the dark,” Rumpel pointed out after a long, companionable silence. “I don’t think that even the moon and stars are really enough illumination. Although, I do know your tenacity when it comes to reading in all lights. The amount of times I came into your library back in the Dark Castle to find you poring over a candle that had nearly burned out, trying to get to the end of a chapter.”

“Well, you know how it is. When you get really into a story, you don’t really notice the fading light. All you care about is what’s happening to the characters and how they’re going to cope with the adventure that’s been thrust upon them.”

“You always did like the adventures the best,” Rumpel mused.

“I think I can find adventure in everything,” Belle said. “I’d long since resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to have any adventures of my own, so I made every story I read into an adventure. Shut away in my father’s castle as I was, everything that was different was something exciting. Even the tales of romance and true love, since I was betrothed to Gaston and wasn’t ever going to experience that for myself.” She smiled at Rumpel. “Little was I to know that adventures in love and marriage were about to come my way anyway.”

“Saying that our relationship has been an adventure is certainly one way of looking at it.”

“We had our ups and downs at the beginning, but I think that we were both to blame for that. We’d been separated for so long that we were just so glad to see each other again and be able to be together in the ways we’d been denied before, that we scooted all the problems under the rug until they became too large for us to handle. But all that’s in the past. We’re together now, and we have Gideon, and I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t be happier.”

Rumpel nodded, a soft smile on his face. It was the smile that was reserved just for her, and it always held in its depths an expression of wonder; even after all these years of happiness, he still couldn’t believe that she was by his side and would stay there forever.

Presently he looked out over the lake again, and up to the last dregs of light that were being hidden behind darkening clouds.

“I think that our luck with the weather is about to run out.”

“Well, it is England.” Belle listened to the first pattering drops of rain coming down onto the awning above them. There was no need for them to move inside just yet, even though there was now no light to read by and no sign of any stars. “It wouldn’t be an English summer without the odd spot of rain. Hopefully it will be sunny tomorrow and we can go to the rocks.”

Gideon had been incredibly excited about visiting Brimham Rocks and seeing and climbing all the natural formations in the shapes of various animals, but if the rain persisted then there were plenty of other indoor activities around that could entertain him. This morning they had been to a craft fair in an old castle, and whilst Belle had wandered around and Rumpel had spent almost an hour talking to a pair of elderly ladies demonstrating hand spinning who reminded him of his aunts, Gideon had sat in the kids’ make-and-take room painstakingly painting mugs for his parents.

Belle looked down at hers, and smiled at Gideon’s childish daubings. No matter how messy they might be – or how messy Gideon might have been after he’d finished – handmade gifts were always the best. He’d put a lot of thought into the mugs. Belle’s was covered with blue books, and Rumpel’s with swirling patterns of gold string. He’d also painted one for himself with green dinosaurs. True, they looked more like splodges than dinosaurs, but the entire family had a good enough imagination to pretend that they were dinosaurs, and belle had no doubt that Gideon’s artistic ability would increase as long as it was nurtured.

She shifted on the swing-seat, curling her legs up underneath her and shuffling over until she could nestle in against Rumpel’s side, pulling the blanket up over her. She rested her head against his shoulder, and he put his book down - not that he’d been reading it for the last few minutes - and wrapped both his arms around her, cuddling her close. His chin came down to burrow in her piled up curls, and Belle sighed with happiness.

“I wish that we could stay like this forever,” she said. “Here in this moment, where everything’s perfect and there’s absolutely nothing to worry about. If I could keep this moment in a bottle, and bring it out every time something goes wrong, every time we’re angry or stressed and wondering why we began this journey in the first place, then all I would have to do would be to look at this moment and I would know.”

Rumpel kissed her hair. “We’ll make it last as long as we can.”

The rain had brought a chill to the air, but Belle still felt no desire to leave the deck. She was warm and snug under her blanket and she had Rumpel to keep her warm as well.

After a few moments of listening to the rain pattering on the lake, she realised that there was another pattering coming from the chalet behind them, and twisted to look over the back of the swing-seat. Gideon was padding across the room towards the deck in his pyjamas, his teddy trailing along the floor behind him, dangling by one foot.

“Hey Gid. Can’t sleep?”

He shook his head and came out onto the deck, Rumpel lifted him up onto the swing-seat and tucked him in under the blankets between them.

“I had a dream,” Gideon began. “Then I woke up and I couldn’t get back to sleep.”

“Was it a bad dream?” Belle asked.

“No. It was a funny dream. Papa and I were playing in the lake and we found a mermaid. She looked like Auntie Regina.”

Belle and Rumpel looked at each other over Gideon’s tousled head, both trying to hold back laughter at the thought of Regina as a mermaid.

“What happened after you’d found the mermaid?”

“Not much. She gave us some tea but it was made out of seaweed so it didn’t taste nice.” He looked at the mug in Belle’s hands. “Is that seaweed tea?”

“No, this is normal tea. I’m using your mug see?”

Gideon nodded his approval and gave a huge yawn, leaning against Belle. He was already beginning to nod off again, and Belle stroked his hair. Despite what she had said before, this was the moment she would bottle forever. Here with Rumpel and Gideon, both of her boys safe and well, and everyone peaceful and content. In this moment, she had found the true meaning of happiness, and she never wanted to let it go.

 


End file.
